


Self-Control

by Alice_Prongs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Canon Genderbending, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6825460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_Prongs/pseuds/Alice_Prongs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because when it came to Jamie Potter, Liam Evans had to use every bit of self-control that he had in his body to not give in. And even that sometimes wasn’t enough. GENDERSWAP!AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! So, this is the first chapter of my genderswap AU for Jily and also my first multichapter. Not all characters will be introduced right away, but, just so you know, everyone has changed genders and their names will sound very similar to their original names in the Harry Potter world: Jamie - James, Liam - Lily, Sirena - Sirius, Marcus - Marlene, Allen - Alice, Remy - Remus, Petra - Peter, Frankie - Frank. This will consist of six chapters and I will post them every Wednesday, so if you come back every week you shall be rewarded with a new chapter! Enjoy and please let me know what you think in the comments.

“What’s up, Evans?”

Liam looked up from his book to find Jamie Potter staring him, her arms folded over the top of the armchair across from him. She was smirking, her hazel eyes twinkling behind her glasses and her black hair looking as messy as ever. She winked at him before moving to sit in the armchair. She crossed her legs, her smirk never going away. Now, Jamie Potter was an expert in the arts of teasing and flirting, especially when those were directed at him (which, most of the time, they were). Therefore, she knew exactly what she was doing to him here. She knew that, with the movement, her skirt had ridden up and that that now gave him a privileged view of her legs. And _Merlin_ , those girl’s _legs_ , but he couldn’t let her lead him like this.

“I’m reading a very interesting book right now, Potter, so, please, if you don’t mind, don’t interrupt.” He directed his gaze back down to the book, trying to concentrate on the words and get his mind off of the siren in front of him. _Hogwarts, the four founders, Godric Gryffindor…_ _God damn it_. But she just _sat_ there, one hand messing her hair up in a way that should make it look weird and ugly, and instead only made it look incredibly attractive. And why was he thinking about how attractive she was when he should be _reading_? Reading, Liam, you’re _reading_.

“Oh, but the thing is, Evans, I _do_ mind. I doubt that book comes even close to being as interesting as me, so come on, give a girl some attention, will you? It’s been a very dull day, and those green eyes of yours are probably the one thing that can make it interesting.” He fought hard against himself to keep looking at the book, even if he wasn’t really being able to comprehend any of the words in front of him.

“Sorry, Potter, but I’m busy.” He heard her let out a little laugh at his grumbled remark before she stood up. From the corner of the eye he saw as she walked up and sat down next to him on the couch, way closer than necessary – she obviously made sure that her thigh was touching his even though it was a three person couch. He still didn’t look up at her, though, even if now, with her new accommodation, her legs were exactly in his line of vision as he stared down at his book, he still thought that would be better than having to look into her hazel eyes or see her crooked smile.

“Now, I disagree with that, Evans. You’ve read _‘Hogwarts, a History’_ at least… What? _One hundred_ times? And right now you’re not reading a word of what’s written in that book of yours! Your eyes have been staring at the same spot since I arrived here. That’s not exactly reading, is it?” She teased him as she dragged a hand through his hair, her nails scratching his scalp slightly. He shook her off, trying to ignore the sensations that her action had caused on his body, and she giggled a bit.

“Well, I’m trying to, but you’re distracting me.” He muttered and almost cursed out loud, because he knew those had been the wrong words to say the moment they left his mouth.

“Oh, _am_ _I_?” She said in an amused tone, one of her hands starting to trail up his arm and she crossed her legs again, her grin bigger than ever.

“ _Bloody hell_ , Potter. What do you _want_?” He let go of his book in frustration and turned to her, but his voice was tight as he tried to remember how to breathe normally because she was _really_ close to him at that particular moment, and the frustrating lass noticed it, as she always did, letting out a little laugh again.

She moved so that her mouth was right next to his ear and whispered with so much mischief in her voice that he finally understood why she called herself a Marauder. “I told you, Evans. I want you to _entertain_ me.” She bit his ear lobe lightly and stood up right after as he jumped up on the couch, looking up at her, his eyes wide. _What the bloody hell was that_? Jamie Potter only laughed again, winking and turning around, walking up to her friends that were entering the Common Room.

Holy freaking _crap_. She would be the death of him, he was certain of it. He looked back at his book that was still laying open and unread in his lap and focused on getting his breathing back to normal as Marcus Mckinnon, his best friend, sat on the armchair that Potter had been on a few minutes earlier. Mark had a satisfied smile on his face and Liam knew exactly what that meant. _Sirena Black_.

“‘Sup, mate?” Mark said, throwing one of the pillows at him as a greeting.

“Hey. You were with Sirena?” He asked and the other boy looked up at him, his blue eyes wide in surprise.

“How could you tell?” He sounded nervous as his hands moved to his neck, feeling it as if trying to find out if there were any marks there. Liam laughed at his friend’s antics before answering.

“Don’t worry, mate, you don’t have a hickey. You’ve just got your post-Sirena face on.” He gestured vaguely to Marcus’s face, making his nervous expression change to confusion and it made Liam want to laugh again.

“My post… Okay, if we’re going _there_ , let me guess. _Jamie_ was just here?” Marcus recovered himself and smirked, and Liam rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to remember _that_.

“How could you tell?” He sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and hiding his face in his hands.

“You’ve got your post-Jamie face on.” He looked up at Mark again, who was still smirking and was now also sporting a smug expression, and glared at him with the best death glare that he could manage (And, not that he wanted to brag or anything, but his death glare was a pretty good one. If looks could kill, his definitely would.). He _certainly_ didn’t have a post-Potter face or whatever. That was just ridiculous.

“Shut up. I don’t have a post-Jamie face.”

“Yeah, you do. It’s that whole _‘she just aroused me and I actually want to snog her, but I’ll never admit that to anyone because I’m too proud and stubborn and stupid’_ face that you do.” Marcus chuckled, pointing at his face like he had done to him before.

That was _so_ not true. He was not aroused by Potter. I mean, of course, she was extremely fit and everything, and she sometimes managed to cause him goose bumps because she was downright _sexy_ , but he… _It wasn’t true_! And, by the way, he was also not proud or stubborn or stupid, he didn’t like Potter like _that_ because he didn’t approve of her behavior in the last six years and… Yeah, _he just_ _didn’t like her like that_. Of course not, no matter what his thoughts sometimes wandered off to and… Anyway!

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Marcus. Shut up.” He was the one that chucked one of the pillows by him to his friend’s face this time, who laughed at him again and threw the pillow back. Mark laid back on the armchair and stared back at him, while he was trying to just get back to his book once and for all. Honestly, didn’t people know not to interrupt someone when they’re reading?

"I don't know why you resist her, mate. Hell, I don't know  _how_  you resist her." Oh, bloody hell. Apparently that topic of conversation wasn’t going to end so soon. He sighed again, finally closing his book and giving up.

" _Why_?"

He huffed and rolled his eyes before answering. "Because Jamie's one fit lass, that’s why! If it was me she was fawning over like that I…" Mark then hesitated and he glared at him.

"What? You _what_?" So maybe his tone was a bit more threatening than he intended it to be, but… But… But he was the one suffering on Potter’s hands! Marcus had no idea what he was talking about.

“I probably wouldn’t have as much _self-control_.” He winked and Liam felt his cheeks burning. He didn’t know exactly why he was so bothered by what he was saying, but he _was_. Mark was talking about the wrong friend, after all! He had that… Could he call it a relationship? Well, that _thing_ with Black and he was pretty sure that if she heard him talking like that about her best friend she wouldn’t like it one bit.

“I thought your deal was with Black, _mate_. And that you thought about Potter like she was your little sister or something.” He hissed, and Marcus only rolled his eyes. What the hell, he was being serious here! It was amazing how his stupid best friend never took anything seriously.

“You know what I mean. I would never have anything with her, of course – _ew_ , by the way, we grew up together – I was just giving an example. But, for real now, if you’re not into Jamie like you’re always insisting, stop sounding so freaking _jealous_ , Liam.” Jealous? He wasn’t jealous of _Potter_! He would never… Oh, he had reached his fill with this pointless conversation. Mark was now smirking in a way that would make Sirena Black proud and that was definitely not a good sign.

“I’m not… _Whatever_ , Marcus. I just… I just need to clear my head. See you later, mate.” He stood up, picking up his book that he had ended up not even being able to read due to those annoying people that were always up in his business. Privacy and alone time were two things that didn’t exist in Hogwarts, apparently. He ignored completely the knowing look Mark gave him and left the Common Room. He was in a real need of some fresh air now, and maybe if he just sat under a tree on the gardens with his book, _alone_ and _isolated_ , people would understand that that was what all he had wanted to do all day. _Read_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Here's the second chapter of Self-Control and things are starting to get interesting! Thank you so much to everyone that commented, bookmarked, gave kudos or even just read this story, it means a lot to me! Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!

Merlin, why did he have to be such a _hot bloke_? He probably didn’t even know the level of handsomeness that he possessed! With his red hair and those green eyes (not to mention the freckles! _Oh, the freckles!_ ), he was just perfectly built in a way that she couldn’t resist his charms. And the uptight personality and the need to follow the rules that he had just made him all the more enticing to her. Especially because she knew that deep down, he also wanted to _let go_ of that entire goody two shoes attitude. And she was more than happy to help him do just that.

Right now he was having lunch a few seats away from her and how come even _eating_ he was gorgeous? He was glaring at Marcus as the boy talked animatedly to him, his arms folded over the table in that way that just made his toned biceps stick out and his forearms look just glorious since he had his sleeves rolled up in that way that she really loved, and, damn, his eyes were _on fire_. She always loved the way his eyes would get so intense when he was mad about something (one of the reasons that she always provoked him, to get him to look at _her_ like that). Her admiration of Liam was interrupted by Sirena that had reached across the table for her and nudged her arm.

“What?” She hissed, glaring at her best friend, who was smirking mischievously, which meant she had something planned.

“Here’s the deal, my dear friend Prongs. Mckinnon is looking especially fit today, and he’s smiling too much for me to resist it. _So_ , what do you say we make a visit to our favorite pair of boys?” Sirena grinned, looking quickly again to where the two boys were sitting before diverting her eyes back at Jamie.

“Alright, so you want me to distract Evans while you drag Mckinnon to a broom closet, Pads?”

“Well, I guess it’s time for you to just go up and talk to the bloke, considering how long and how fiercely you’ve been undressing him and sexing him up mentally already.” She felt her cheeks burning as Sirena winked knowingly at her (she was _not_ doing that!) and stood up. Jamie followed her lead, both of them strutting confidently up to the two boys, and as Padfoot slid beside Evans, she slid beside Mark, who stopped talking as soon as he saw them (well, mostly Sirena, really, she doubted he could see any other girl whenever she was around).

“Hey there, boys.” She said, staring directly at Evans, who – quite rude of his part, actually, and here she was thinking that he was always polite and sweet to people – groaned out loud and sank his head in his hands, grabbing that amazing auburn mop of hair with them as well in the way she always wanted to do and... _Anyway_ , she was about to say something else when suddenly she felt a foot going up her leg. A _girl’s_ foot. Jamie let out a little laugh before staring at Sirena, who had a wicked smile on her face. “You got the wrong leg, Pads. Just a little bit to the side there.”

“Oops, sorry, Prongsie. Won’t happen again, I swear.” She felt the foot leave her leg, and judging by the jump Marcus gave next to her, she assumed Sirena had hit her target this time. “So, what were you fine blokes talking about before we came?”

With that, Evans’s head snapped up, his wide eyes directed towards Mckinnon, who recovered quite quickly from Padfoot’s ministrations and let a smile that looked way too much with one of Sirena’s take over his face. “Well, you’ll be happy to hear, Black, that we were discussing over…”

“OVER NEWTs! Over _NEWTs_! Quite a boring subject to you, Black, I’m afraid.” Evans barged in quickly and quite desperately, glaring fiercely at Mckinnon and making her and Sirena look at each other, eyebrows raised and suspicion seeping from them. Now, now, what had that been?

“Is that so, Evans? I’ll have you know that I’m quite interested in our _NEWTs_ , seeing as I’m also on seventh year and all that.” She said, folding her arms over the table and leaning forward a bit, knowing _exactly_ what that new position did to her boobs and being extremely aware of the extra two buttons she had left open that morning. She would have to remember to thank Pads for that suggestion later.

“And yet, Jamie, I don’t think that’s what our dear Red and Brunette here were talking about, _is it_?” Marcus flinched as soon as Sirena stopped talking, making her guess that she probably did _something_ under the table to him. Evans, on the other hand, looked quite desperate to get out of that topic, looking anywhere but at her (really, he didn’t even spare a glance at her _prized possessions_. The nerve!). And that only made everything more interesting.

“Of course it was! What else could it possibly be?” But Liam’s voice was too tight and his eyes too wide, and Mark was unusually quiet, and neither of them was looking at her.

“Well, I don’t know! Marcus, what’s your say here?” The boy flinched again at Sirena’s words (really, what _was_ she doing with him under there?), and swallowed. The redhead in front of him looked almost pleadingly at his friend. Weird.

“Well, we were… We were talking about… _Girls_. Ow! For Merlin’s sake, Sirena!”

He really jumped up this time, as Pads stared at him with quite a lot of anger in her grey eyes and stood up as well. She swore she saw Marcus cowering a bit in fear and Evans scooting to the side to get farther away from the girl. Even Jamie had to admit that she looked pretty scary, but she wasn’t really paying any mind to that. What she was thinking about was how white Evans had gotten as Marcus was trying to explain himself and how relieved he looked the moment the word ‘girls’ had left his friend’s lips. And how he wouldn’t, for the life of him, look at her. Oh, there was definitely something more there.

“You. Me. Outside. Now.” Sirena grumbled, pointing threateningly at Marcus, who only nodded rapidly before walking out of the Great Hall, Padfoot trailing behind him and looking extremely mad at him. Merlin, she pitied the destiny that awaited poor Mark outside the Hall’s doors. Except…

 _Except_ Pads and Marcus didn’t have anything really serious – yet – with each other, and Si herself enjoyed quite a lot talking about other boys with her and the Marauders, so… Realization dawned on her. Her friend wasn’t _mad_. Well, not as much as she showed at least, because she obviously didn’t like when Marcus talked about other girls, but it wasn’t that much of a big deal, especially considering who she _was_. Oh no, Sirena had other things in mind. Like dragging Mark to the broom cupboard she had mentioned earlier to her – and possibly make him forget about any other girl that dared cross his mind, even if she wouldn’t admit that she was actually trying to do that – and consequently leaving Jamie alone with Evans.

But Evans didn’t seem to share of the same idea as her friend, as he hastily started gathering up his things to leave. “I… I should go, I have to… To go to the library, NEWTs and… _Stuff_.”

“You alright there, Evans? You look a bit flustered.” She said teasingly and grinning at him, who, if possible, got even redder. It was amazing how even when he was the color of a tomato he managed to look breath taking (ugh, she fancied him so much that her mind was getting annoyingly cheesy even for her).

“I’m _fine_ , Potter.” He muttered, finally finished packing everything and standing up. Leaving quite a full plate of food in front of him.

“Aren’t you even going to finish eating, _Liam_?” Her grin didn’t leave her face as she teased him and saw his panicked eyes flicker quickly to his plate.

“I’m… I’m not hungry anymore. I’ll… I’ll see you around, Potter.” He stuttered, starting to leave.

“You definitely will, Evans.” She said, finally, and he stumbled almost his entire way out of the Hall.

Now _that_ had been interesting. It wasn’t that Evans was ever pleased to be in her presence, but he almost never ran away like that! She had never seen Evans get so bothered by something she or Sirena had said, and they teased him a lot, it was one of their favorite hobbies, actually. And he still wouldn’t even look at her! Of course, most of the time he hated her guts, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t even bear to direct his gorgeous eyes at her! Actually, he did that quite a bit, even if it was often only to scold her for something wrong that she had done with that gruff sexy male voice of his. But this time he had looked nervous and fidgety. And, really, when was Liam Evans _ever_ fidgety? Oh, that was some dirt that she really needed to uncover. Maybe, after all, he wasn’t as indifferent to her as he liked to think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Like I promised, every Wednesday a new chapter, so here's the third one! I hope everyone is enjoying this story, I really loved writing it and it's awesome that people are reading it. Again, thank you so much for everyone that read, kudoed, bookmarked and commented! Enjoy the chapter and let me know in the comments what you're thinking!

He was going to _kill_ Marcus. If his so called friend wasn‘t so fond of pestering him about Potter all the time, he wouldn’t have had to go through that stupid scene at lunch. He was pretty sure that Potter had almost caught up to what was going on, or rather, _had been_ going on before she and Black had arrived at their spot on the table. Because of that, he honestly wished Sirena had done her – evil – number on dear _Mark_ for the fact that he was talking with him about other girls. Unfortunately, he doubted she had gone as far as pushing him a little too harshly up against a wall before they started snogging each other senseless.

The conversation, that had been more Marcus talking and him pretending not to be listening than anything else, had been playing through his head over and over again ever since he had left the Great Hall. Just like it was right now, as he wandered absentmindedly through the hallways, having just been turned down by Allen on their Charms’ study session, because he would be too busy with Frankie, his girlfriend, to do something as _unimportant_ as studying. Really, great friends he had. So there wasn’t really anything or anyone there to take his mind off lunch, especially considering the very empty stomach he now had, since he hadn’t finished his meal in his haste to get away from Jamie… No, _Potter_.

Potter, the stupid girl that was always all over him and that he wanted nothing more than distance from. Even if Marcus didn’t think that was the case. But it was. Of course it was. He couldn’t stand Potter ever since they were in their first year. She was arrogant, messing up her hair all the time and playing with that snitch of hers, when she wasn’t even a Seeker, but a Chaser on the Gryffindor Team, and a bully, always picking on Severina every time she saw her (even if the other girl wasn’t really innocent on that part as well, it was still wrong), and she was too brilliant at everything for her own good. And yeah, she was also incredibly loyal towards her friends, what with that entire Remy thing, and she was extremely passionate about everything she did, be it Quidditch or Transfiguration, while also being irritatingly smart without ever having to do an effort for that. Sure, sometimes she went a bit overboard with her flirting, but he would be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy it one bit when she… _Woah_.

He froze. He _enjoyed_ it? What the hell was his stupid mind on about? No, he _didn’t enjoy_ Potter’s flirting. He actually hated the fact that she was always all over him. Or trying to get over him, at least. Marcus’s words at lunch were again flying through his mind. His stupid, stupid mind that had no idea of what it was on about. _‘You can’t actually say that you don’t like having a fit lass like that_ wanting _you, mate.’_ _‘I don’t when she’s arrogant and a bully and never knows the time to stop.’ ‘Oh, come off it, Liam, she’s not that bad and_ you know that _. She’s not the same Jamie that she was when we were fifteen. She grew up, and not just her body’s improved, by the way.’ ‘Marcus,_ stop it _, I don’t like her.’ ‘Yes, you do. Stop trying to fool yourself before you get hurt, or hurt_ someone else _.’_

No. No, no, no, no, no. _No_. He didn’t like her. He couldn’t stand her. So what that she was one of the prettiest girls he had ever met? Or the fittest? So what that he had to resort to every ounce of self-control in his body not to give into her? So what that the messy hair or crooked smile or even the snitch didn’t bother him nearly as much as it did before? He _didn’t_ like her. _‘The girl’s in love with you, mate. And you’re not very much behind that, judging by the stupid look you get on your face every time she does as much as winking at you.’_

“Evans! Fancy seeing you here! Wasn’t expecting it _at all_.” He turned around quicker than he thought possible at the sound of her voice, and sure enough, there, at the end of the hallway, stood Jamie Potter, one hand already messing up her hair while the other tucked a blank piece of old parchment into her purse.

“What is it, Potter? I’m not in the mood right now.” He grumbled, already looking around for any ways where he could run to if it need be, as Potter started making her way towards him.

“Are you ever?” She smirked, winking at him and he gulped as her hazel eyes travelled lazily down his body. Merlin, this girl shouldn’t be allowed to be near him. “Calm down, Evans, I just wanted to have a little chat with you. I was under the impression that our time together at lunch was cut short.” His eyes widened at her implications as her eyes snapped up to look into his, and he could feel the intensity of her gaze even through her glasses’ lenses. Holy crap, what would he do now?

“Why… Why would you say that? I was under the impression that we said _everything_ that there was to be said during lunch.” He cursed himself for stuttering, and judging by the way Potter shook her head and the grin that took over her lips, she noticed it.

“Well, but you see, Evans, I didn’t really buy that story about you and Marcus talking about girls and whatsoever. Well, I didn’t buy that story _entirely_ , at least. I’ve spent quite a while running our previous interaction over in my head, and I decided that I caught up to some very weird behavior from you and your best mate.” She was now one step away from him, still grinning. He had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well for him. The bloody lass apparently didn’t comprehend the fundamentality of respecting someone’s personal space when you’re in a civilized conversation.

“I have no idea of what you’re talking about, Potter.” He said, trying – and failing – to find that damn exit route, because, really, did she _need_ to be this close to him? Potter took the last step then, her body an inch away from his, as she looked up at him and he reluctantly looked down at her from their height difference. He had to count to ten when he felt her hand resting lightly over his torso and he felt the heat of it as if it was directly against his skin (when had the Hogwarts’ uniform shirt become so thin?). Why, oh _why_ couldn’t he just move back and get away from her? Why was he frozen in place?

“Ah, but you do, Evans. The entire time the two of you were telling that story, and, by the way, I doubt Marcus is physically able of thinking, let alone _talking_ , about any girl other than Sirena, neither of you were able to do as much as glance towards me. There was a serious avoid-Jamie action going on there between the two of you, and I’m pretty sure that I’m not that bad on the eye. On the contrary, I’m quite certain that I’m actually very pleasant to the eye. So… I would like to know what all of that was about.” He breathed in deeply as he felt Jamie’s index finger running up and down his shirt, her nails scraping him lightly as she drew absent-minded patterns there.

“Potter…” He tried, he really did, to get away from her, but it was like the girl had some kind of magnet in her or something, because he couldn’t step away, not even as she stood on her tiptoes, her lips getting closer to his as her hand grabbed hold of his shirt.

“You see, Evans, the only reasonable explanation that I find for this situation is one that I’m sure you’ll find quite absurd.” She whispered in his ear, and he couldn’t stop the shivers that ran through him from it, but he cursed himself either way as her other hand came up and closed around his tie, pulling him down a bit as she chuckled lightly, because of _course_ she noticed it. “I don’t want to startle you with my theories, _Liam_ , so you could make both of our lives easier and just… Tell me what you two were actually talking about.”

He closed his eyes forcefully and prayed to Merlin or God or whatever deity there was out there for him to be able to keep his self-control as she started pushing him backwards towards the wall and he was only able to stutter out a few words, still trying to explain himself. “We told you… Girls.”

She chuckled again by his ear, her warm breath hitting it again and holy crap, what was she _doing_ to him? “Come on, Evans, I thought we had covered that ground already. Now, the _truth_. What was the topic of the conversation exactly?” Her voice dropped down to a tone that was so undeniably sexy that he wanted to kill himself just so he didn’t have to hear it again and then maybe he wouldn’t give in to her. _Don’t you dare give in, Liam Evans._

“It was… I…” He tried pulling himself back together just as he felt her nails scraping the nape of his neck and the wall hit his back. There was no escaping her now.

“Yes?” She pulled back a bit, her face now in front of his as her hazel eyes stared at his emerald ones behind her glasses and she blinked in a way that looked so innocent that it probably would have made him laugh at any other moment in time, but that then was what made him lose it. _‘I don't know why you resist her, mate. Hell, I don't know_ how _you resist her.’_

“It was you.” He choked out and the girl in front of him expressed a lot of different reactions in just a few seconds. First she widened her eyes in surprise, then her lips curved up a little in her trademark mischief and at last she was full out smiling, with so much happiness written across her face that he lost his breath for a second at how beautiful she looked.

But then that malicious grin was back and she was once again inching even closer to him and her hands were running over his torso and chest and neck and _hair_ and Merlin have mercy on his soul because he might not come out sane out of this one. “So much effort put into looking like I have no effect on you, Evans. I’m sorry about that, love, but I am that irresistible, it’s just impossible to…”

And, really, he had to shut her up, didn’t he? He hated when she sounded arrogant, didn’t he? That’s why he did it, wasn’t it? _‘If it was me she was fawning over like that I probably wouldn’t have as much_ self-control _.’_ Or maybe Marcus was just wrong and maybe he didn’t have any self-control at all on his body when it came to her.

He kissed her. His hands, that had been laying by his side throughout the entire conversation, never able to push that provocative lass back, grabbed her, one circling her waist and the other one settling at the side of her head, and pulled her body flush towards his, his lips crashing on hers as she froze a bit in shock. It took her only a few seconds, though, to understand what was happening, and then her hands were also put to work as she responded enthusiastically to his kiss. She messed up his hair and pulled on it and loosened his tie and he didn’t even realize what he was doing as he tried to deepen the kiss, her mouth almost immediately parting to give his tongue entrance. And _gosh_ , this girl could kiss. One of his hands sunk in her messy hair and he probably made it even messier as he pulled her closer to him.

He flipped them over and pressed _her_ against the wall instead, both of his hands now wandering the sides of her body as his teeth bit slightly on her lower lip, sucking it into his mouth right after. She let out a low moan that was so _not_ helping his brain get back to his body. Her glasses were pressing against his cheeks in a way that he probably would have found uncomfortable had it been any other time or any other girl, but he barely registered it with the way she was pulling on his hair and dragging her nails on his scalp in a delicious massage that was giving him goose bumps from his head to his toes as her tongue worked wonders inside his mouth.

In the back of his mind there was a tiny voice that was telling him that he shouldn’t be doing what he was doing, that he was in the middle of a public hallway, that this was _Jamie Potter_ , for Merlin’s sake, but he was so involved by her, her warmth, her lips, her body, her sounds, that he couldn’t really get himself to listen to his conscience.

Her lips parted from his when breathing became a problem and automatically descended to his jaw, biting and sucking as she made her way to his ear, a place she loved provoking, it seemed, worked her way there, and then went lower to his neck. As she sucked his pulse point, her hands were once again at his tie, taking it off, throwing it somewhere and proceeding to open the first buttons of his shirt, her lips already making her way down to his now exposed collarbone. He couldn’t keep a groan in when she bit the hollow between his collarbone and his neck a bit more forcefully, sucking it into her mouth afterwards, and he grabbed her face with both hands and brought her mouth over to his once again. He could still feel the places where her mouth had been and he wondered briefly if she had left any marks on him.

His hands had already entered the back of her shirt, almost at the clasp of her bra, and hers entered the front of his, starting to explore his chest and torso, leaving trails of fire wherever her fingers touched and making his muscles clench under them from the sensations they were causing, their tongues exploring each other’s mouths once again. He felt her right leg drag across his left one as she brought it up and wrapped it around his waist, one of his hands grabbing it and squeezing her thigh that was exposed from her skirt, as he proceeded to trail kisses down her jaw and her neck. She whimpered as he bit and nibbled and sucked and her hands sunk themselves in his hair, as if trying to get him closer to her. His hand gripped more forcefully her thigh, pulling her into his body again, and they both let out grunts from the friction the movement caused.

And that was when he woke up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! The fourth chapter is here, only two more to go! Again, thank you so much to everyone that read, kudoed, commented and bookmarked, please let me know what you’re thinking!

_He was snogging Jamie Potter_. In the middle of a hallway. A public one, where anyone could walk in at any time. What the hell was he _thinking_? He let go of her leg then, detached his lips from her neck, took her hands off his hair and took a step back. Several steps back. The girl in front of him looked like a mess. Her hair was messier than usual, her lips were swollen from the kissing and biting, her glasses were crooked and her clothes were disheveled, her tie almost falling off and the first buttons undone revealed the top of her breasts and bra and made him divert his eyes from that area immediately (when had he done _that_?). She still looked beautiful, though, as she blinked up at him and looked like she was waking up from a daze, her lips still parted and her body resting against the wall as if it was the one thing keeping her up. He probably didn’t look much better.

“What…?” She started saying as she adjusted her glasses and looked up at him, and he almost jumped out of his own skin, as he spotted his tie on the floor to his right – thankfully on the direction to the Gryffindor Tower – and he walked to it, picking it up from the floor and trying to look at least a bit straightened out.

“I’m sorry, Potter, I shouldn’t… I… I’m sorry.” He mumbled, before turning his back on her and taking quick steps away from there, the image of the way her face had fallen at his words burning in the back of his mind.

“Liam, wait, where are…” But he didn’t wait to hear what she had to say, as he quickened his pace almost to a running step and turned left into the next hallway, his hands fumbling with the open buttons on his shirt and with his tie, only stopping once he reached the Fat Lady’s portrait hole.

He mumbled the password and almost ran inside again, walking as quickly and as subtly as possible up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories, after noticing that neither Marcus nor Allen were in the Common Room. He opened the door to their bedroom and immediately spotted Mckinnon lying on the bed next to his. And, oh, _his bed_. That was exactly what he needed. He closed the door with a bang that had his friend giving a slight jump in surprise.

" _Holy crap_." He let out as he threw himself on his back on the bed. Marcus turned to him at his words with a frown on his face.

"What's up, mate?" He asked, and then his eyes ran over the redhead’s figure and he seemed to finally take in Liam’s appearance. “ _Woah_. What _happened_ to you?” He wondered the same thing. What did he look like right now? His hair, that he always worried in keeping neat, was probably sticking up in all directions from Jamie’s hands, his clothes were probably completely messed up (had he even buttoned up his shirt correctly?), his lips would be swollen and it was possible that there were even a few marks on his neck.

He picked one of his pillows and covered his face with it, not wanting to face his best mate on the moment of his confession. "I lost my self-control." He mumbled and his words were muffled by the pillow. He was such a stupid hormonal idiot! How could he _kiss_ her and… And _more_? Oh, Merlin, how could he _leave_ her afterwards in the middle of the hallway?

"What?" Mark asked with his voice sounding more than a bit confused.

"I kissed Jamie. I mean, Potter." He grumbled, feeling the heat fill his cheeks even if his best friend couldn’t see his face.

There was a lot of shuffling coming from Marcus since he had probably sat up on his bed and then he yelled, quite loudly. "YOU _WHAT_?"

He raised the pillow momentarily to reproach the other boy as he widened his eyes at the highness of his mates’ scream. "Marcus! _Shush_!" What if someone heard downstairs? He covered his face again.

"Oh, don't you dare shush me when you've just completely dropped a bomb in the middle of our dorm! What the hell happened? I want _details_." Liam heard the sound of his steps on the hardwood floor as his friend came up to him and took the pillow away, to which he only responded with a groan. Mark sat on his bed and forced him to sit up as well, his blue eyes already fixed on him and bright like they always were when he was about to hear gossip.

He managed to surpass his mortification long enough to roll his eyes at the boy in front of him. "Merlin, you sound like a girl.” He ignored the offended sound that the other one made and proceeded to stutter through his explanation of what had happened on that hallway. “We were alone, in the hallway and she started talking about earlier today on lunch and she… She pressed me against the wall and I… I wasn't on my right mind already, with you talking about her all the time and she being everywhere that I am. I was getting sick of all the teasing and she was just too close and I was just going crazy with everything that happened today as well so then I… I _kissed_ her. And she kissed me back and mate, _I lost control_. I turned us around and pinned her to the wall and we just _snogged and snogged_ until I finally came to my senses and then…" He broke off, not quite sure how to explain what he had done afterwards, his cheeks burning up as he watched as Marcus just gaped at him in disbelief.

"Then… _What_? Holy crap, Liam, what did you _do_?" His friend sobered up a little and started glaring at him, probably a million bad possibilities going through his head. He wasn’t sure if Mark would have even considered the bad possibility that he had chosen.

"I broke the kiss and kind of ran away." He muttered, closing his eyes instinctively, almost expecting Marcus to hit the back of his head or something. Instead, he got his ear drums pierced.

"YOU WHAT?"

He screamed right back at him, his eyes darting to the door as his friend had probably been heard in the Common Room this time. " _MARCUS_!"

But he ignored his scolding and actually hit him in the back of his head this time. "Are you daft, mate? You ran away from Jamie? You just _left_ her in the middle of an empty hallway? After you bloody kissed her?" He was hissing, a threatening tone in his voice, and that was dangerous, because Marcus often got loud when he was mad, but it was when he was quieter that someone should really get worried. On the back of his mind there was a tiny voice reminding him that, although Mark was his best friend, he was also the guy that had practically grown up with Jamie Potter and that tended to be quite protective over the girl when other guys were assholes towards her.

"I didn't know what to _do_! Things weren't supposed to happen this way, you know that. I wasn't supposed to give in!" He tried defending himself, but even he knew there was no point in that as his best mate stared at him through slitted eyes.

"Yeah, well, but you're not supposed to abandon the poor lass after you do!" He chose to punch his arm – quite forcefully – this time, and there was a small part of him that thought that he probably deserved to take a small beating for what he had done.

"Bloody hell. I'm screwed." He groaned, pulling at his hair with his hands, but stopping as he remembered of Jamie’s hands doing the same just a few minutes earlier. He looked up at Marcus, who still had that judging look on his eyes. “Do you think she’s going to be mad?”

He rolled his eyes. “Mad? Probably, yes, but that’s not the bigger problem. She’s going to be _hurt_.” He glared at him even harder as Liam’s green eyes widened.

“Why would she be hurt?” He whispered, feeling a weigh in his chest at the thought of hurting Jamie. No, Potter. _Potter_.

And then Mark’s words from earlier came back to him. _‘The girl’s in love with you, mate. And you’re not very much behind that, judging by the stupid look you get on your face every time she as much as winks at you.’_

“Why would she… _Bloody hell_ , Liam, how clueless _are_ you? Because _she fancies you_ , you big idiot!” He slapped Liam on the back of the head again, but he barely felt it, as the realization dawned on him. Because maybe he had been wrong during all those years. Maybe he hadn’t been just a game to her. Maybe she had been honest in all her advances. Maybe this wasn’t the first time that he had hurt her.

“She… _Holy crap._ What do I do?” He moaned, throwing himself back on his pillows, and Marcus _sweetly_ kicked him in the ribs.

“Well, I don’t know, you should, maybe, _go talk to her_!” And then he pushed Liam onto the floor. He landed with a dull _thud_ and a painful groan.

He didn’t even complain and only sat up on the floor, his eyes wide once again and his voice desperate. “Talk to her? I can’t _talk_ to her!” Just the possibility of it already made his heart speed up and him to start to sweat.

“You know what? I’m going to go get Allen, because I can’t deal with you right now.” Marcus stood up, already starting to walk to their room’s door. Quite the supporting friend, that one.

“Oh, thanks a lot, _mate_.” He grumbled as he picked himself from the floor and sat on his bed.

Just as Marcus rolled his eyes and reached for the door handle, the door was thrown open and Allen walked in, looking quite disheveled himself. “LIAM! I can’t believe you snogged Jamie and then _abandoned_ her in the middle of a hallway!”

“How the bloody hell do you know that already?” He asked, his voice a few octaves higher than normal, and threw his arms up in frustration. His two mates looked back at him with reprehensive looks on their faces.

“I’ll have you know that I have a girlfriend named Frankie that happens to be Jamie’s roommate, and apparently Black had quite a lot to say about your gentleman like behavior after she arrived back to their room.” Allen answered, and as his words dawned on Liam, he felt his eyes widening even more. Oh, he hadn’t thought about _that_ part of the deal yet.

 “Oh. _Oh_. I’m going to have to deal with _Black_.” He muttered, already feeling the prospect of his life leaving his body as he imagined all the horrible things that she would do to him when she got her hands on his poor being.

“You’re going to have to deal with _every single one of them_. Remy is probably the worst one when she’s mad, she just stays silent and gives you those reprehensive looks and…” Allen rambled on, his ‘I’m judging you’ stare never leaving, as his so called best mate really didn’t help on making him feel better, while Mark looked like he had dozed off, his eyes widening more and more as he snapped his head back to stare at Liam again.

He grabbed a pillow from the nearest bed and threw it at him out of nowhere. Liam was barely able to dodge it. “Oh, bloody hell, Liam! You screwed me up as well! I bet that Sirena is going to be mad at _me_ too.” Marcus groaned then and threw himself at his bed, sinking his face on his pillow and groaning again. Liam threw the pillow right back at him, as Allen rolled his eyes at, probably, their _boyishness_ , and stood tall over them with all of his _maturity_ radiating off of him.

“Oh, come off it, Marcus! As if Sirena could even keep her hands off of you for five bloody minutes.” Liam grumbled and the other boy threw the pillow at him once again, that action resulting in a short pillow fight and a bit of rolling on the floor trying to get a hit at each other before the _‘grown up’_ decided to put a stop to it.

“ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU! GET OFF OF EACH OTHER AND SIT DOWN. Each on their own beds, please.” Allen separated both of them as they huffed and puffed at each other, their faces red from the ‘exercise’. They obeyed the other boy anyway, both knowing that it was the best way to go when Al was concerned, even as they continued glaring at each other. “Now that’s better. See? This way you barely even look like the two thirteen years olds that you are inside those tiny brains of yours.”

“Gee, thanks, Fortescue. It’s good to know that you love us so much.” Liam muttered, and received another slap on the back of his head, but this time from Al. Marcus looked at him with such a cocky expression that he had to count to ten to not punch it out of his face. He reserved it for later, when Al went out to meet with Frankie.

“Shut it, Evans. We’ve got more important matters at hand here. Or rather, one matter. _Jamie_.” Allen sat on his bed then, staring at him again with that severe gaze that made him want to hide away in his bed. “You have to fix this, mate.”

“On that we can agree on.” Muttered Mark, going back to glaring at him and taking up on that whole protective older brother stance that he had when it came up to Jamie Potter.

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” Liam said, the other two rolling his eyes at him. The image of her – standing against the wall, completely disheveled because of him – popped up in the back of his mind, and he had to fight all his ginger genes not to let the redness take over his cheeks at the very inconvenient thought of what they had done in that hallway. What he had let himself do with _her_.

“You have to talk to her, mate. Apologize or something.” Allen said, and Marcus supported him. But Liam didn’t. Just the thought of talking to Potter, staring into her hazel eyes again, already freaked him out. He couldn’t do it, not now at least. How would he ever look at her again without the sensations of what they had done an hour earlier coming back to haunt him? How would he ever be able to apologize to her for it?

But that wasn’t what he told them.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll talk to her tomorrow then. I’m tired right now, so I think I’m just going to sleep.”

“You haven’t even had dinner… Yeah, alright. Whatever then. I’m starving, Allen, let’s go.” Marcus grabbed Al by the arm and carried him outside, even as he protested that he was ‘supposed to be a Gryffindor, the bloody coward is going to starve to death just so he won’t have to face a bloody girl.’

As they exited the room, Liam laid on his back once again, ignoring the growl his empty stomach made, because Al was right, he would rather starve than face Jamie again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! The fifth chapter is here, only one more to go! I can’t believe it’s almost ending. One more time, thank you so, so much to everyone that’s been reading, kudoing and bookmarking, please let me know what you’re thinking in the comments! See you guys next week for the last chapter!

The next day came too quickly for Liam, and it gave him an uneasy feeling on his stomach. Just the thought of seeing _her_ again already made him want to run for the mountains. And that was practically what he did when he saw her entering the Great Hall for breakfast with Sirena, Remy and Petra trailing behind her. He wasn’t proud of it, but when Mark and Al both nudged him to go talk to her and she raised her eyes and met his, panic filled him, and he was only able to take one last bite from his toast before his mind lost control of his body. He scurried to his feet and left the Great Hall in a hurry, ignoring his friends’ calls. He missed the way Jamie’s face fell as she saw him leaving or how Sirena glared at him so hard that if looks could kill, he would be dead and buried already.

After that, it came almost on instinct to him to avoid her every time he saw her. If he spotted her when he turned a corner, he would immediately turn around and go back the way he came, or he would do his best to take a seat as far away from her as possible during classes. That went on for a few days. He couldn’t help it, as soon as he saw her, his body went on override and he ran away as fast as possible. He tried hard to ignore the little voice at the back of his mind that sounded awfully like Allen that kept saying that he was hurting Jamie and that he had to stop it, he had to fix this, he had to _do something_ , but the moment he heard her voice nearing the table in which he was sitting at the library, he gathered up his books and practically flew out of the library.

His friends weren’t exactly happy with his new behavior towards Potter, and there was quite a lot of punching and slapping and nudging and kicking thrown his way by them during that time. Marcus looked like he was one step away from drowning Liam on the lake for each time that he ran away and Allen would give him pep talks and exasperated looks whenever he found the time to do it.

As for her friends, well, he avoided them as well in the hopes that he wouldn’t turn up dead one day in the hands of Sirena. He wouldn’t think Mark would like it if she ended up in Azkaban because of him. Even with all of his avoiding techniques, though, Remy still threw him those reprehensive looks that Al had told him about, Sirena glared daggers – or maybe even laser beams – at him and even Petra looked disappointed at him. It was all rather unsettling, but nothing compared to when, five days later, he walked in on Potter studying in the Common Room.

It was very late in the night and everyone on his room was already asleep, but he couldn’t for the life of him do the same. There were only images of _her_ and hallways and buttons opened filling his mind. He decided to get a bit of fresh air in the Common Room then since, considering the time it was, it would probably be empty. He tiptoed out of his room as silently as possible to not wake up any of the other boys snoring happily there, but froze when he got to the top of the stairs that descended into the Room.

There was Jamie Potter, sitting in the same couch he had been sitting on a little over a week ago trying to read ‘Hogwarts, a History’ for the one hundred and first time. She had come to bother him that time, and he had shrugged her off, like he always did. He had been able to resort on his self-control then. She didn’t see him standing there, her eyes turned to the disarray of books and parchment in front of her. She was fiercely writing on a piece of paper, and Liam thought he had never seen her like that. Her hair was messier than usual, but not in the elegantly disheveled way she liked it, on a way where it looked like she hadn’t bothered to fix it in days, her glasses were sliding off her nose, there were dark circles under her eyes and she didn’t just look tired, she looked defeated. _‘Mad? Probably, yes, but she’s definitely going to be hurt.’_

His body almost betrayed him and he almost went to talk to her, but what was he supposed to say? _I’m sorry I kissed you and then ran away?_ Yeah, okay, so maybe he _should_ say that, but he had no freaking idea of what the hell was going on with him, so how could he go talk to her now? He was pretty sure that he would just screw everything up even more by saying something stupid, he was sure of it. He had never seen her, Jamie – Quidditch Captain – Marauder – number one in Transfiguration – never stops smiling – Potter, like that, and it freaked him out even more. So he just left, again, as silently as possible and crashed into his bed.

It took him a long time to sleep again, and when he did, he dreamed of big, sad hazel eyes, and walls, and bodies, and lips, and heat.

On the other day, he suffered an attempt of murder.

Sirena cornered him in a very crowded hallway on their way to lunch, and because of that it was harder for him to run the other way in the middle of the masses of students, so before he was able to try to escape from her, she had already sunk her perfectly manicured and very sharp nails on his arm and had started dragging him somewhere. The morgue, probably.

“Black, listen, I’m really hungry, and so I kind of need to get down to lunch now and…” He tried to release his arm from her grasp, but the girl was incredibly strong – probably why she played as Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team – and she didn’t budge.

“You didn’t have that problem when you tried hiding what you and Mark were talking about the other day, so shut it, Evans. You and I need to have a serious conversation.” She grumbled and came to a stop. On a very empty hallway that was very far away from any people and where she could murder him and no one would be able to hear him screaming. He was getting seriously suspicious of her intentions.

“Okay…? What’s up, Black?” Liam stuttered and cursed himself internally at how his voice broke on her name. He gulped hard when she started glaring at him through slitted eyes. How the hell did Marcus survive having an open relationship – or whatever it was they had – with her? The girl was downright scary.

“ _You_. You’re ‘what’s up’. You being an asshole and ignoring Jamie after _you_ snogged _her_. I swear to Merlin, Evans, that I didn’t take you for a jerk until now, but after that stunt you pulled, I found out that you’re the biggest git that has ever set foot in Hogwarts.” She jabbed her index finger against his chest forcefully as she hissed at him. It stung. He thought that she had never looked so much like a Black than she did on that moment. Her words hit too close to home, they hit too close to how he had been feeling about himself during the past six days, and he didn’t want to have to hear them from her.

“Listen, Black, I…”

“No, Evans, I’m not listening today. _You_ are. If it was up to me I would skin you alive for hurting Prongs like you did, but she wouldn’t forgive me for that. And neither would Mark, and I need him to satisfy my needs.” He couldn’t help the look of disgust that crossed his face at her words. He really didn’t need that image in his mind at that moment. Or ever, for that matter. “But here’s the deal, Evans. You pride yourself on being so above all of us, on following the rules, on getting top marks, on being so not messed up, on being a good guy, but guess what, you’re _not_. You snogged Jamie, okay? You turned her dreams into reality and then five minutes later you stepped all over her heart and _left_. Afterwards, as if that couldn’t get any worse, you decided to completely ignore her! You pretended that nothing had happened, that she didn’t exist, you ran away from her over and over again and you broke her heart just that tad bit more.” She breathed in deeply, and her words swam on his mind, making him feel worse than he had ever felt before. He felt like the worst wizard around, and even that felt like too little to how he should be feeling. Sirena’s gray eyes didn’t stop burning holes into his skull, but he couldn’t face them, so he turned his gaze to the ground.

“I never meant to hurt her, Sirena.” He let out, his voice breaking again, and the girl in front of him sighed, running her hands through her hair in a very Jamie way.

“Look, Evans, I’m not going to pretend that I understand what happened between you and Prongs on that hallway, or what you meant by it considering you’re always so adamant in saying that you can’t stand her, but what matters here isn’t what you meant by all of it. It’s what you did. You hurt her, badly. But that’s Jamie that we’re talking about here, and she’s crazy about you for who knows what reason, so you can still fix it, Evans. Just fix it, before it’s too late.” And with that she glared at him one last time before turning on her heel and leaving him there.

He let himself fall against the wall, his hands grabbing at his hair with frustration. After cursing himself under his breath and replaying Sirena’s words in his head and failing at understanding what the holy hell he had gotten himself in, he put himself slightly back together and proceeded to the Great Hall. He hoped he could get at least a little bit of food into his stomach before he had to go to classes.

It took him two more slaps on the back of the head from Mark, one last pep talk from Allen and Frankie, another reprehensive look from Remy from across the dinner table, a surprising disappointed shake of the head from Petra, a final glare from Sirena, seeing Jamie with her shoulders sagged and one more night of turning in bed unable to sleep because of memories of messy hair and bodies glued together for him to understand everything and finally make his decision.

Now he only had to talk to _her_.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the last chapter, I can't believe it! One last time, thank you so much to everyone that has read, kudoed, commented and bookmarked or that will read this. This story is really special to me and to know that people are liking it makes me really happy! Let me know what you think of the ending in the comments!

It had been one week since Liam Evans had pressed her between a wall and his delicious body. It had been one week since Liam Evans had ravished her mouth in a way that she used to think would never happen. It had been one week since Liam Evans had last looked at or talked to or touched her. It had been one week since Liam Evans had broken her heart.

And, really, contrary to what Remy and Si and Petra seemed to believe, she was _fine_. It wasn’t like she ever hoped that he would actually like her, right? Her pursue of him had always been based on a lot of wishful thinking and staring from afar and a whole lot of teasing on the expectation that the stupid boy would just give in to his hormones, at least once!

In the end, that’s what he had done, right? She was provoking him, like she always was, and even she had to admit that she had taken it a step further as she pushed him against the wall. He had given in after that, like she always wanted him to, so who was she to complain? Of course, in her dreams he didn’t exactly leave her alone in the hallway seconds after he had ravished her completely and then proceeded to ignore her for days on end, but…

Wait a second, she was not going to let him turn her into one of those girls that blamed themselves when the guy messed up. And if Liam Evans had done anything on that week, it was _mess up_.

Who was she _kidding_? She wasn’t fine! She was hurt, and angry, and _sad_. Years of pining after that gorgeous redhead for _what_? An intense snog against a wall and then bye, bye? Stupid, stupid Evans. And stupid her for ever believing that anything could come out of him. Hadn’t he been clear enough on his demonstrations of how much he didn’t like her? Of course her traitor of a heart had to fall for him of all guys and had to do somersaults every time she saw him, even after what he did to her.

But he had given her hope! Really, if kissing her like _that_ wasn’t building someone’s hope up, she didn’t know what was. She should have listened to Si, though. _‘You can do better than him, Prongs. You can do better than a guy who thinks you’re the worst there is in society, a guy that doesn’t like you based on his stupid principles.’_ But the thing was that Pads wasn’t right. Liam didn’t think that low of her, or at least not anymore, and he had never been exactly rude to her when he turned down her advances and she had been a complete arrogant prat all those years, so she couldn’t really blame him, with all his following the rules thing and having been Severina Snape’s best friend for years, so…

Oh, she had such a stupid brain, didn’t she? She didn’t want to be rational right now! She was mad at Liam Evans, incredibly mad. He had been a huge jerk towards her and she couldn’t and wouldn’t let him get down easily from that. Her feminist spirit didn’t let her endure that kind of treatment from a guy. No matter how much of a prat she had been before, she wasn’t anymore! He was the one that was wrong this time, and she wouldn’t forgive him just because he had the most wonderful emerald eyes or the kindest smile or… Crap, she really hated herself sometimes.

She hated Liam Evans as well, especially because he was right in front of her, his back against the wall as he talked to Mark and Allen, and did he _have_ to look that gorgeous all the time? Honestly, she was trying to get over the boy here! She didn’t stop walking, though, even as she predicted that as soon as he saw her there, he would most likely turn around and run in the opposite direction. But he didn’t do that. The moment he looked up at her and saw her, a frown appeared in his face while he looked like he was fighting some internal battle or something like that. Not that she was staring at him, obviously, she saw all that from the corner of her eye while she walked past him – she had become quite the professional on doing that after years of trying to look at him without him noticing.

"Jamie!" He called after her, but she only walked faster, trying to get away from the red hair and the green eyes that made her want to forget that she was really, really mad at him and that he was a big huge jerk that did not deserve her. But what the holy hell was he _doing_? Why wasn’t he avoiding her now? She managed to turn around the corner into another hallway before he caught up to her. "Hey, _Jamie_! WAIT!"

She felt him grab her wrist and she turned to look at him, even if she knew that that was probably not the wisest of ideas. But she also knew that she had quite a lot to say to him. "What is it, Evans? You want another quick snog session before you run away and ignore me for days again?" She glared at him and realized their current situation. They were a few steps into the other hallway, a deserted one, and far enough away from his friends. She shivered a bit at the thought of being alone with him again in that same situation.

"Okay, I deserve that. But no!  _No_. I just… I messed up. Royally. I know that. And I'm sorry. I was just so confused by you, because up until a few months ago I couldn’t stand you and then last week you were there and I kissed you without wanting to and..." He rambled, apparently trying to apologize, but failing miserably, his stupid beautiful eyes wide and his mouth moving in a ridiculously enticing way. _Honestly, Jamie, calm those hormones down!_

"Is this your apology? Telling me that you hate me and that you actually didn't want to kiss me?" She inquired, ignoring the way her heart was pounding or how she could feel her blood rushing through her body at how close he was, and, really, it was weirdly hot in there. She noticed then that he was still holding her wrist and quickly seized it from his grasp, taking two steps back from the _‘dirty dreams on legs’_ that he was to her.

"No! I mean, yes, but no, that's not what I meant. I didn't _know_ that I wanted to kiss you. And I  _used_  to not stand you. So I ran away from you and I ignored you and that was a complete jerk's move from my part and I'm sorry. I just needed to clear out my mind before coming to talk to you again." His hands messed up his hair in the same way that she had wanted to do for so long and that she _had_ done… _Mad! Hurt! You’re mad and hurt_! But he was apologizing and… Oh, bloody Morgana, she wasn’t going to come out alive out of this one, was she?

"And have you?" She stared up at him, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms as she managed to keep at least a straightened out pose on the outside, even if her insides were a complete mess. Merlin, _had he_?

"Yes.” He breathed out, and, oh, damn it, damn it, damn it, what the bloody hell did he mean by that? He didn’t continue talking so she just kept on staring at him until he probably realized that he still had some things to clarify. He fidgeted a little before he started talking again. “Right, so this is the deal. You made me lose my self-control, okay? And I freaked out over it because I _never_ lose my self-control. So, _wait_ , just let me finish. So, these last few days I spent trying to understand what happened. Because I kissed you and you kissed me back and I liked it! And it was _you_ , Jamie Potter! And it took a lot of head bashing and not sleeping and Allen pep talking me and Sirena glaring at me all the time and also making me feel very guilty after she scolded me, but I finally realized _why_. I like you. I do. And I don't know when it happened, or how it happened, I just know that it did. And I'm really sorry for everything that I made you go through, I just… You've succeeded, Jamie. You made me fall for you."

Holy buggering hell. What was she supposed to do after _that_? The boy she was head over heels with for possibly three years now had just admitted that he liked her! That _he_ , Liam Evans, had fallen for _her_ , Jamie Potter. And… Wait a second, had he just said that Sirena had scolded him? When had _that_ happened? “Sirena scolded you?”

His hand jumped up to his hair again, and she dared to say that he had taken that habit from her, he looked at her through his lashes, almost bashful. “She managed to get me alone and had quite a lot of complimenting things to say to me regarding my stupid behavior from this week. Threatened to skin me alive, as well, but it never got to that.” He let out a small chuckle and she almost allowed herself to smile – but thought better of it, she was still _mad_ – because that did sound a lot like Pads, even if she had explicitly told her not to get involved more than once.

“I was, no, _am_ extremely mad at you, Evans. It hurt a whole freaking lot what you did, alright? You’re right in saying that you were a big jerk, since you were the biggest jerk ever to me, and I didn’t deserve it, even if I _am_ arrogant or whatever other nice thing you like to say about me.” She looked up at him and he started shaking his head, taking the two steps that she had taken to put some distance between them and holding her hands. Her eyes widened at his actions, because, for Merlin’s beard, he was too close for it to be safe for her sanity and her heart. Damn those stupid beautiful emerald eyes and that constellation of freckles on his face that made her want to count them one by... Damn _him_.

“Listen to me, Jamie. I was wrong, okay? In what I did, in leaving you there and ignoring you, not in snogging you, though perhaps that wasn’t the best time or place for us to do it. I didn’t want to see the truth before. I didn’t want to admit that you weren’t the arrogant prat you used to be a couple years ago, so don’t say that you are, because you’re not. Merlin knows how much you’ve changed, I mean, you’ve made me fall for you, haven’t you?” He said all that looking into her eyes and holding onto her hands, and, dear Morgana, she had no idea of how she managed to not melt into a puddle right there. He was too close for her to think straight.

“Evans?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you maybe take a few steps back so that I can actually be able to think here?” The words left her mouth before she was able to control herself, and she felt the heat rising to her cheeks. She was probably as red as Liam would get when she teased him. He took a few steps back then as she withdrew her hands from him, and there was a sly smile on his face that told her that he was having a bit too much fun with all that confusion that he was causing her. “Would you stop smiling, please?”

“Sorry, is that distracting you as well?” He asked, and the stupid smile didn’t leave his face, his eyes twinkling in mischief that in any other time she would have found extremely attractive, but that right now was just extremely annoying. How _dare_ he? She was the one that played around like that, not him. And wasn’t he supposed to be apologizing to her?

“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m the tease here, alright? You don’t get to play me right now.” She pointed a finger at him, and he raised his hands as if in surrender, but the smile. Didn’t. Leave. His. Damn. Face.

“I thought we could trade places for a bit.” He shrugged, and Merlin, she couldn’t deal with this right now.

“Okay then, shut up will you, Evans? I’m trying to think.” She mocked him, starting to pace up and down the hallway. He had apologized, hadn’t he? But he had also hurt her a lot during the past week, so were a few pretty words enough to make her forgive him?

He stopped her pacing by holding her by her upper arms with those hands that one week earlier had been on her waist and on her thigh and that shouldn’t be touching her right now because she _needed to think_. But as soon as he looked at her, a few loose strands of his dark red hair falling on his forehead and almost covering those big green eyes that could see into her soul, and he said those stupid words, she felt her resolve going away.

“ _I like you_ , Potter.”

She smiled a bit in spite of herself and hit him playfully on his chest (probably not the best idea at the moment, honestly, _when_ and _how_ did he get those muscles?). "You know, when you keep saying things like that, it's really hard to stay mad at you, you big idiot." He smiled beautifully at her words and she couldn’t resist much longer before sliding her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss, and, oh, it had only been a week, but she had missed that mouth and that tongue of his and the wonders they did to her. He pressed her against the wall once again and she only separated their lips long enough to say one last very true statement that he needed to hear. "It bloody took you long enough."

His only answer was to smile against her lips and kiss her more urgently. She didn’t complain.

This time, they moved their snogging out of the public hallway – because apparently Liam had a few problems with that over which he had not complained about last time due to lack of thinking – and into a more private and comfortable space.

The thing between them was that, at the end of the day, neither had any self-control where the other was regarded.


End file.
